Working their way to stardom

From being a bellhop to Mission: Impossible. 10 celebrities' first jobs.

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Before the red carpets and million-dollar paychecks, many of the stars we know today were punching clocks at jobs that looked a lot like the ones we or our neighbors had. Even if their names are big today, they started small, and they surely remind us that fame doesn’t come overnight. The road to stardom can be a mop or a tray of food. Let’s see some of these A-listers’ first jobs.

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Long before he charmed audiences as James Bond, Sean Connery was a milk deliveryman around Edinburgh. He also tried his hand at bricklaying, lifeguarding, and even polishing coffins. That experience with manual labor gave him the determination and physical presence that fit perfectly once Hollywood came calling with a license to kill.

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Tom Cruise may be one of the most bankable action stars today, but his first gig was hauling luggage as a hotel bellhop. Can you imagine him doing that? Carrying bags wasn’t glamorous, but it taught him about hustle and hard work. Not long after, he traded in suitcases for scripts… How fast can fortunes turn, right?

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Before Seinfeld became a TV star, Jerry was hustling in New York City, selling light bulbs over the phone and even hawking fake jewelry on the sidewalks. Those odd jobs gave him endless material for comedy about the absurdity of everyday life, which became the backbone of his stand-up and, eventually, his hit show, Seinfeld.

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Whoopi’s road to fame wasn’t particularly easy. She once worked as a beautician in a morgue (yes, you read that right!) and also spent time on construction sites as a bricklayer. Imagine the resilience and a sharp edge those experiences gave her, and how much they helped her shine on stage and screen.

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When Jim Carrey was a teenager, his family faced tough times, and he took a job cleaning factory floors. Sweeping up was a far cry from the slapstick comedy that later made him famous, but it gave him empathy and a strong work ethic.

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Before she became Rachel on Friends, Jennifer Aniston was dialing numbers as a telemarketer. Cold calling strangers wasn’t exactly fun, but it gave her persistence and a thick skin. When she landed her breakout role, she turned those early struggles into one of the most beloved TV characters of the ’90s.

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You may know her as Queen Elizabeth, but long before playing queens and winning Oscars, Helen Mirren was at an amusement park in Southend, England, working as a promoter. Talking up roller coasters and fun houses must have given her a taste of performance and persuasion. It might not have been regal, but it was her first step toward a royal acting career.

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Ellen DeGeneres tried out plenty of jobs before comedy stuck. She worked at JCPenney and TGI Fridays, picking up people skills and funny observations along the way. Those early experiences shaped her wit and conversational style, which later made her stand-up and talk show so inviting to audiences.

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Jon Bon Jovi once worked in a Christmas decoration factory and later as a janitor. Those modest jobs couldn’t hold back his music dreams. Once his band hit the charts, he swapped broomsticks and ornaments for guitars and global fame.

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Before slicing through the screen as Wolverine, Hugh Jackman was teaching gym class in England. As a physical education teacher, he spent his days coaching kids in sports and fitness. But he was so much more; it was his natural energy and presence, which later helped him leap from the classroom to Broadway stages and Hollywood blockbusters.

THE KING OF TERROR

Discover Ten Books By The American Master Of Horror, Stephen King!

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Stephen King has truly earned his nickname "the King of Horror." Not only is it a fun wordplay on this iconic author’s last name, but it also perfectly describes his incredibly prolific career. With over 65 novels, 200 short stories, and no signs of slowing down, Stephen King has truly taken the horror genre to new heights.

In his almost 50-year-old career, King has written some of the most iconic and groundbreaking moments that redefined horror books and movies. We have selected ten of the most bloodcurdling King books as a way to honor this outstanding master of horror. Enjoy!

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We’ll start with King’s very first novel. Published in 1974, "Carrie" tells the story of a solitary and misunderstood teenager who one day discovers she has telekinetic powers. Ostracized and humiliated by her classmates, Carrie finally snaps and enacts revenge on the entire town that neglected her.

As bleak as this story is, the tale of how it was conceived is actually rather wholesome. King first drafted "Carrie" as a short story to be published in a magazine, but gave up on it since he felt it wouldn’t be successful. His wife Tabitha, however, encouraged him to keep on with it, inadvertently helping launch one of the most successful writing careers in modern history.

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Just like "Carrie", Stephen King’s novel "The Shining" might be best known for its 1980 film adaptation, directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick. However, there is a huge difference between both movies: While Carrie is a fairly faithful adaptation of the original book, King has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with Kubrick’s version. And, while the film is considered by many to be a masterpiece, the truth is that its vast differences with the source material have made the movie not a particularly faithful adaptation.

"The Shining" tells the story of Jack, Wendy, and Danny Torrance, a small family who moves to the empty Overlook Hotel in the Rocky Mountains, after Jack is hired as winter caretaker. Inspired by the real-life Stanley Hotel, the Overlook is a magnificent but mysterious place, filled with supernatural occurrences and ghostly apparitions. Locked in by the snow, Danny and Wendy must survive a suddenly deranged Jack, influenced by the evil pull of the hotel who wants to get ahold of the once-happy family.

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In case you didn’t know, people suffering from coulrophobia have an irrational fear of clowns. That being said, fearing clowns is way more common than you think: Some of us owe our fear of these colorful-haired entertainers to Stephen King’s classic 1986 novel, "It".

This book centers on a group of seven friends, who battle a shape-shifting monster (simply known as "It") that haunts the fictional town of Derry, Maine. While It can morph into whatever horrible form he chooses, his favorite shape is a dancing clown called Pennywise. Brought to life by Tim Curry in the 1990 mini-series (and then again by Bill Skarsgard in the 2017 film adaptation), Pennywise’s macabre antics have made him into one of the most iconic villains ever created.

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Leave it to Stephen King to turn a beloved American icon into a murderous machine. Published in 1983, the novel "Christine" features an unusual villain: a 1958 Plymouth Fury, possessed by an evil spirit hell-bent on revenge. After bespectacled and withdrawn high-schooler Arnie Cunningham buys Christine from a mysterious old man, strange occurrences start happening in his hometown.

Acclaimed horror filmmaker John Carpenter directed a film adaptation of "Christine" only 8 months after the publication of the book. Carpenter’s version is now considered to be a cult classic and, just like King, managed to make a seemingly mundane item into a bloodthirsty monster.

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Just like with "Christine", Stephen King manages to make one of the most adorable dogs in the world into the stuff of nightmares. The titular "Cujo" in the 1981 novel is a good-tempered St. Bernard, who becomes a rageful beast after being bitten by a rabid bat. King’s magistral take on this hellhound seems almost logical: Despite being friendly and caring, St. Bernards are humongous dogs and the prospect of one of them turning into a frenzy is a terrifying one.

King took inspiration for this story from a trip to a mechanic in his home state of Maine after having trouble with his motorcycle. When the author arrived at the garage, he was greeted by an angry St. Bernard who lunged for his hand. While King was left unharmed, the fear this enormous dog instilled in him drove him to create Cujo.

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How would you react if you woke up and found yourself sitting in a completely empty airplane? This existential question was posed by King in his 1990 novella, "The Langoliers". A group of ten people traveling on a red-eye flight to Boston discover that they are the only passengers on an airplane and make an emergency landing in Bangor, Maine. What follows is a bloodcurdling exploration into an eerily ghostly land on which time ceases to exist, devoured by otherworldly creatures called the Langoliers.

This novella was adapted into a TV mini-series in 1994. Stephen King himself makes a cameo, appearing as a businessman conducting an important shareholders meeting.

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Misty and foggy weather has always been a staple of horror novels: it is easy to picture a haunted mansion or a spooky castle shrouded in a thin layer of concealing mist. However, in most stories, mist is usually innocuous, and nothing more than a way to add to the gravitas of a spooky landscape. That is until Stephen King came along with his 1980 novella "The Mist".

After a massive thunderstorm hits Bridgton, Maine, an unprecedently thick mist covers the town and leaves a group of citizens stranded in a supermarket. While the lack of visibility is a concern, the mist hides something more sinister: supernatural creatures that attack whoever wanders into the foggy streets.

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Fans are one of the main sources of inspiration for lots of creative people: their support and continuous encouragement drive their favorite artists to create new work. However, as the 1987 novel "Misery" teaches us, there is a very big difference between admiration and obsession, and sometimes your biggest fan might become your worst nightmare.

King was inspired by the reactions of some of his own fans to his fantasy novel "The Eyes of the Dragon". The story of writer Paul Sheldon and how he is held captive by a deranged admirer of his books draw parallels to King’s own experiences with fans. King felt some of his fans had metaphorically trapped him in the horror genre, especially those who reacted negatively to "The Eyes of The Dragon" just because it wasn’t a horror novel.

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No, that’s not a typo: that’s the actual name of this book. But you probably already know that: this is one of Stephen King’s most famous works. It has been adapted into two movies, one in 1989 and another in 2019, and it even inspired a punk rock anthem by the legendary band The Ramones.

This book follows the Creeds, a family that moves to a house near the town of Ludlow, Maine. After a truck runs over the family cat, a neighbor advises burying their pet behind the old "pet sematary", an ancient and evil burial ground with the power to bring the dead back to life. However, Louis soon learns that some things should stay buried.

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We end this list with one of Stephen King’s most acclaimed books. The post-apocalyptic novel "The Stand" was one of King’s most ambitious projects: The complete edition, published in 1990, is the author’s longest stand-alone book to this day. This effort shows, though, since "The Stand" became a #1 bestseller and it is considered by many to be one of King’s best novels.

After a deadly virus extermines most of the human population, two opposing factions try to rally survivors to their side. This novel was the first appearance of Randall Flagg, one of King’s most iconic villains and the main antagonist of "The Dark Tower" series. "The Stand" was adapted into several TV shows, most recently in a 2021 adaptation starring Alexander Skarsgard.